Growth

Growth of the Cruise Line Industry

The market talks to each other, influences each other.  So progress gets amplified.  The more people who have ocean cruised, the more who will tell others, the more who will want to take an ocean cruise too.

Worldwide, the cruise industry has an annual passenger compound annual growth rate of 7% from 1990 – 2017. Growth strategies to date have been driven by larger capacity new builds and ship diversification, more local ports, more destinations and new on-board/on-shore activities that match demands of consumers.  The industry is also expanding rapidly internationally.  These activities help increase penetration in a core North American market that still has growth potential.  Only 53% of the target North American market (or 24% of the whole U.S. population) have ever taken an ocean cruise.  All the cruise ships in the entire world filled at capacity all year long still only amount to less than ½ of the total number of visitors to Las Vegas

Shipbuilding Summary

A total of 6 new ships were added in 2013 with a total passenger capacity of 14,074.  From 2014 to 2015, a net of 13 more new cruise ships will come online adding 39,297 lower births, or 8.7% to passenger capacity.  The ships from 2014 to 2015 will add $3.2 billion in annual revenue to the cruise industry.

Sources: Cruise Market Watch’s proprietary Cruise Pulse™ and Port Pulse™ databases, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., Carnival Corporation and plc, NCL Corporation Ltd., Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), The Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) and DVB Bank.